Tigray Region

The World Food Program has suspended aid distribution in the northern Ethiopian town of Kombolcha after "mass looting" of its warehouses blamed on Tigrayan forces, a U.N. spokesman said on Dec. 8.

Turkish citizens now in Ethiopia should leave due to the escalating clashes between army troops and members of the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the Turkish Embassy in the capital Addis Ababa said on Nov. 22.

Dragged into a conflict not of their making, members of Ethiopia's Qemant ethnic group say their only choice was fleeing to Sudan - marking another bleak turn in a widening war.

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Draped in sacred white cloth, the procession drifted silently towards a priest calling the faithful to celebrate the Archangel Michael, a revered saint in Ethiopia.

Around dawn, thousands of worshippers gathered at the church in Amhara, the second-largest region of Ethiopia, which is staging long-awaited elections on June 20.

A report issued on June 10 warned that over 350,000 people in Ethiopia's Tigray province are facing famine and over 2 million are just a step away, blaming the dire situation on the ongoing conflict that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee, limited humanitarian access and the loss of harvests and income.

About 2.3 million children in Ethiopia's Tigray region do not have access to humanitarian assistance since a conflict started early November, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

In a statement late on Dec. 15, UNICEF said the situation will worsen if access to the children is delayed.

Rockets launched from Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have again targeted the capital of Eritrea, diplomats told AFP on Nov. 29, while the U.S. embassy in Asmara reported there were "six explosions" in the city.

Newly appointed Turkish Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, Fatih Ulusoy, on March 25 expressed readiness to take his country's cooperation with Ethiopia in trade and investment to new heights.